Spring Readathon 2012 :: Hours 13-16

Update from Readathon Hours 13–16…
I’m halfway through The Art of Fielding and I’m beginning to consider abandoning it. It’s not that the story isn’t good, but rather that I’ve become weary of some of the character arcs. The main plot about an all-star college shortstop and his struggles to maintain a big league level of play is interesting enough, and I love the moments that are directly tied to the game of baseball. But there is another major story at work in the midst of the novel that involves a homosexual affair between the college president and a student forty years his junior, and, well, I have absolutely no interest in such a relationship nor desire to read about it. I’ve now begun skimming through entire chapters just to avoid that storyline, and I’m starting to question whether the book is worth continuing if I’m going to be overlooking half of it. The next hour will certainly tell the tale. At this point I’m inclined to quit and move to something else. Although I’m terribly disappointed that the book has taken such a turn. I honestly don’t understand why that arc was included in the first place. And that is so discouraging.

108pages read this period (give or take, due to skimming over some paragraphs)

229 of 512total page count

3.0hours spent reading (this period)

—book(s) completed

—books attempted during readathon

Snapshot from my readings: two passages that speak to aspects of baseball that make me love it so… the all-encompassing effect it has on a person’s life and the ritual and superstition that is so much a part of the game.